Sin & Spirit (Demigod of San Francisco #4)(65)

“Don’t think in terms of gravity and moving parts. No legs. No ground. Just feelings.”

A sudden rush of sensation, as powerful as any orgasm, stole my breath. I couldn’t even stop to remember I didn’t have breath, lost as I was in utter bliss.

When it cleared, there was only his amusement. “It’s not just your Demigod who can inspire lust without touching.”

Anger infused me. “Do that again, and I’ll…”

He laughed, giving me space, though he kept hold of my hand. “One day you’ll have something to threaten me with, yes. For now, let’s begin. Think of Daisy’s soul. Nothing else, just her soul. How it feels when she comes into the room. When she leaves. What it looks like in your mind’s eye…”

I pushed everything else away—the weird place, my mind’s attempts to stray, the oddness of not having a real body. I centered myself and did just what he said, desperate to feel her soul enter a room again. Bright and beautiful and Daisy.

“Now call it to you.”

“But it—”

“Do as I say. Call it to you.”

I closed my eyes—surprised I could still do that, given I had no eyes—and did as he’d said, focusing on her soul, pulling it near as I had with so many other spirits. As expected, nothing happened. I said as much.

“Are you sure?”

I opened my eyes, annoyed with his teasing tone. The same bruise-like colors greeted me, and out of annoyance, I swapped them. Replaced them. Hell, I didn’t even know what to call it, just that they weren’t right, it was stupid, and I wanted them to look more like the world of the living.

Like a lamp had flickered on, the darker colors lightened. The midnight blues and violets morphed into bright green grass and blue sky. The gray still hovered, permeating everything like a fog, but beyond it, within it, I could see the world where my body lived. I could see my body lying on the ground, Bria’s fingers on my vitals and a phone trapped between her ear and her shoulder. She was probably filling Kieran in. She was fine with flouting the rules when she was in her element, but not when the situation was knee-deep in crazy not of her own making. Or neck-deep, in this case.

“Very good.” The disembodied voice sounded much too close to my ear. I shrugged it away. “Even better. You are creating your own spatial parameters. That is necessary when you traverse places with souls that…haven’t gotten out in a while, shall we say. You are the natural your magic promises. Now, pull again, and feel what it is you are doing.”

Frustration overcame me, but I did as he said, trying my damnedest, envisioning Daisy’s soul and yanking with everything I had.

“There is no way. My body is keeping me grounded,” I said, exhausted from my efforts.

“Yes, it is. But you can pull free. You just have to get a fix on Daisy’s soul and grab it.”

A light bulb clicked on, and I immediately saw Daisy’s soul glittering and shining in my mind’s eye. In this realm. It was in her body, I could feel that, but…

“Look down,” he murmured.

A little string glittered in my hand, twinkling and shining just like her soul—connecting me to her, and her to me. All I had to do was pull, but this time, it wouldn’t be her coming to me, it would be me pulling my way through this place to get to her.

“Exactly,” he said, and I could hear the pride in his voice. “Now, close your eyes, focus on her soul, and pull yourself toward it. Just like when you pulled yourself through the Beyond, back to your Demigod. Pull yourself along, and bring me with you.”

I couldn’t even think enough to be scared. I wouldn’t fear myself back into my body even if I tried, not when I had a line on Daisy and could potentially find out where she was being kept.

Spirit moved around me. In another setting, I would’ve been grinning. It did feel like I was flying. But now all I could think about was moving faster, getting there and getting back.

Getting to Daisy in the physical world.

I felt my soul draw closer to hers, strong and bright, just like I’d left it, closer and closer until it felt like we were in the same room. Like her soul was blaring right next to mine.

I slammed to a sudden stop and “heard” a grunt from Harding. He squeezed my hand, and I opened my eyes.

I hung suspended in the air, upside down, my shadow head nearly bumping the ground. Colors flickered around me, dark then light, pinks and oranges fading in. Reality wobbled around me in the small room, threatening to send me careening out of this plane.

“It’s okay.” His voice was silky and smooth. Comforting, like his hand holding mine. “That was a lightning-fast transition. Give yourself a moment to adjust. Maybe close your eyes again. I’ll right us. It’s a great distance to go your first time.”

I did close my eyes and take a moment. Despite the situation, and finding Daisy—I’d found Daisy!—I needed to center myself.

Harding’s tug moved us further away, and then a pull had me swinging, my feet moving through the air until they bumped against something solid. The ground.

I opened my eyes, two feet from a stucco wall covered in dirt. We were outside. He was clearly giving me a chance to get my bearings before I got down to business. I blinked, forced away the urge to rush to my ward, and took precious seconds to get my bearings. One misstep, and I’d go running back to my body without being able to help myself. I couldn’t let that happen, not when I was so close to my ward.